Doctor fish is the name given species of fish: Garra rufa. Other nicknames include nibble fish, kangal fish, physio fish, and doctorfishen; in non-medical contexts, Garra rufa is called the reddish log sucker. They live and breed in the outdoor pools of some Turkish spas, where they feed on the skin of patients with psoriasis. The fish are like combfishes in that they only consume the affected and dead areas of the skin, leaving the healthy skin to grow, with the outdoor location of the treatment bringing beneficial effects. The spas are not meant as a curative treatment option, only as a temporary alleviation of symptoms, and patients usually revisit the spas every few months.
Read more about Doctor Fish: Occurrence, Spa Resorts, Legal Status
Famous quotes containing the words doctor and/or fish:
“I was not at all worried about finding my doctor boring; I expected from him, thanks to an art of which the laws escaped me, that he pronounce concerning my health an indisputable oracle by consulting my entrails.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)
“I close my eyes and suck you in like a fire.
I grow. I grow. I’m fattening out.
I’m a kid in a rowboat and you’re the sea,
the salt, you’re every fish of importance.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)